News - Page 2296

A YEAR of consolidation clouded with uncertainty is ahead for the UK fleet industry following record-breaking sales in 1997. Fleet sales smashed through the one million barrier for the first time reaching 1,018,491 compared to the previous record set in 1996 of 955,371 as total new car registrations last year were the third highest on record at 2,170,725, a 7.2% increase on the 1996 total of 2,025,450.

LEASE PLAN has appointed operations director Howard Thomas to succeed Vahid Daemi as managing director. Thomas, 44, who worked at Renault and Europcar before joining Lease Plan in 1991, is the company's first managing director to have a motor industry rather than finance background.

FLEET and finance remarketing specialist Cars Direct has bought Northampton-based rental company Abington Vehicle Hire. The rental operation will be aimed at corporate customers, helping to meet growing demands from Cars Direct customers seeking a wider range of services.

STRONG demand for commercial vehicle rental combined with more stable pricing of new vehicles saw Northgate Motor Holding's parent Goode Durrant achieve a 14% increase in pre-tax profits. The company posted pre-tax profits of £17.4 million (1996: £15.2m) on a turnover up 36% to £95.5 million (£70.2m) for the six months to October 31, 1997.

HIGHWAY Vehicle Leasing has changed its name and revealed a new logo - almost a year after the company was bought by General Guarantee, the finance division of retail giant General Universal Stores. The new name, Highway Vehicle Management, better describes the full range of the company's car and commercial vehicle services, according to managing director Colin McLean.

SPECULATION is mounting that the Government may introduce a system of graduated vehicle excise duty in the spring Budget. Amid increasing speculation surrounding the Budget and possible measures which could impact on the motor industry and particularly the company car, graduated vehicle excise duty is claimed to be emerging as the favourite measure in Whitehall.

INTERACTIVE new and used car buying system Car Shop has been bought by Haymarket Magazines from Barclays Bank for an undisclosed sum. The move is seen as laying the foundations for Car Shop's future development on digital, multi-channel television.

CAR makers have rebutted allegations of price fixing in the UK by consumer magazine Which? Volvo and Fiat were both accused of contravening European Union guidelines by forcing customers to pay artificially high prices after an undercover reporter attempted to get discounts from dealerships.

BRITAIN'S largest contract hire and leasing company has introduced its first gas-powered vehicle to its fleet. Lex Vehicle Leasing has contract hired a liquid petroleum gas powered Renault Megane Classic 1.6 RT to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. It is believed to be the first LPG car supplied by a contract hire company in Britain.

VAUXHALL fleet operations director Mike Bonner is to step down after seven years in the post and in his 40th year with the manufacturer. However, Bonner is to remain with Vauxhall for a further three years - to his 60th birthday - in the new position of general manager corporate sales with responsibility for Vauxhall's six-strong corporate sales team, major solus and dual badge customers, new business with major customers, government and police sales and global and pan-European fleet business.

COMPUTER giant ICL has extended its long-standing fleet deal with Vauxhall to cover the company's European fleet in a three-year preferred supplier agreement. ICL operates some 5,000 cars in the UK and a further 2,000 on the continent and the new arrangements should see General Motors increase its penetration of the fleet from 70% to 80% by the end of the contract period.

CONTRACT hire and leasing companies have been warned to look out for bogus credit submissions from prospective customers following a rise in the number of fraudulent applications. AT&T automotive Services has identified a growing number of companies submitting false information on their credit submissions in recent months.

COMPUTER screens and CDs are being used to simplify the perfect repair of crashed vehicles. Motor insurers are putting correct repair methods on to CDs so that bodyshop technicians can flick through instructions on-screen and secure detailed print-outs in any sequence they require, saving time and making vital repair information more accessible.

FLEET software specialist Towquest has launched a consultancy service for the leasing industry. Spearhead Consulting will call on the skills and experience of Towquest's in-house team, in partnership with Motor Consultancy and Management Ltd (MCM), former Leasecontracts financial manager and head of used vehicle remarketing for GE Capital Fleet Services businesses Peter Smith, and Robert Furness, whose experience includes the fast-track set-up of United Dominions Trust's dedicated contract hire company.

FLEET software companies are pulling out all the stops to win police fleet business as a number of constabularies look to implement new IT strategies. Up to seven police force contracts are out to tender for new systems, each one providing a valuable showcase for software specialists who know that a reference from a blue light fleet is one of the best marketing tools available today.

TRANSLINC, Lincolnshire County Council's soon-to-be-privatised transport operation, looks set to be bought by its management and employee team. The council received two tenders for the operation - one from Midland Fox, which is part of Arriva, and the other from an in-house team, which has been chosen as the preferred bidder and has entered into negotiations.

VOLKSWAGEN has released details of the new Beetle, which has made its world debut in North America although the car will not go on sale in the UK until next year. The new car will go on sale in the USA in the spring powered by a choice of either a 2-litre petrol engine producing 115bhp or a 1.9-litre diesel producing 90bhp.

MINISTERS are considering the technical feasibility of motorway tolling with a view to making such measures part of the transport white paper due to be published in the spring. Technological trials have been carried out on a test track at the Transport Research Laboratory and the results have now been passed on to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

OPERATING costs for more than 300 of Britain's leading fleet cars are revealed in the new 'Company Car Cost Calculator' compiled by GE Capital Fleet Services. The guide reveals how companies could save themselves thousands of pounds a year by basing their fleet choice lists on operating costs and not list prices.

BMW is now the leading provider of company cars to senior business executives, and has pipped Jaguar to top spot as the most popular boardroom car for both managing directors and chairmen. At the £40,000 benchmark salary level, 20% of employees chose to drive either BMW 3- or 5-series cars, 17% opted for Audi A4 or A6, and 16% selected either the Ford Mondeo or Scorpio, according to Buck Consultants' 'Directors' Cars Report 1997/98'.

VOLKSWAGEN has revealed specification and prices for its flagship Passat models - the V5 and V6 Syncro. On the road prices start at £21,450 for the V5 saloon, rising to £26,645 for the top of the range V6 Syncro estate with four-wheel-drive.

THE low acceptance so far of personal contract plans and private leasing schemes in the market place could stem from dealers failing to tell customers that they were available, according to a new report. A survey by Cornhill Insurance and the Retail Motor Industry Federation found that only 14% of respondents had even offered such financial arrangements by their dealers.

PARAGON Car Finance has launched a range of packages for drivers who opt to take cash instead of a company car. Customers can choose a personal contract purchase plan with an optional maintenance package covering standard service costs.

MONDIAL Assistance has won the contract to provide a nationwide emergency assistance service to Land Rover customers using a dedicated fleet of Land Rover vehicles. Under the terms of the contract, won from the AA, Mondial will operate a dedicated emergency assistance network under which it will own and operate a fleet of 50 TDi Land Rover Discoverys.

MDIS has decided to offer its 900 staff cash or personal contract purchase arrangements instead of company cars. The Hemel Hempstead-based company, which was formerly known as McDonnell Information Systems, contract hires 800 cars through Axus UK. The remaining 100 employees had previously taken cash instead of cars.

THE London Stock Exchange is moving all of its non-essential business use drivers from a company car to a cash allowance. The change in policy is designed to give the managers concerned greater freedom of choice, and of the 160 employees concerned 90 already take a cash allowance. The rest will join the new programme by the end of the year.

A LEADING benefits consultancy has advised fleet decision-makers to take a flexible approach to company car contracts in the run up to the Budget in March. Buck Consultants has warned that companies which tie drivers into three- and four-year contracts on their company cars could run into human resource and recruitment difficulties.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott wants to use Britain's presidency of the European Union to initiate a green transport revolution across the continent. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions said issues such as air quality and global warming were near the top of the agenda for Britain's six-month spell as head of the union.

CRUISE control systems could produce fuel savings for fleets, according to a report from researchers in Holland. Novem (the Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment) has carried out large-scale studies to investigate whether econometers or cruise control systems encourage drivers to improve fuel economy and efficiency.

VOLVO is aiming to build on its growing reputation in the police fleet market with a foray into the ambulance sector. The Swedish manufacturer is offering a police specification version of its S/V70 as a rapid response paramedic vehicle and is also making a demonstrator ambulance version of the larger 960 estate available.